The COVID-19 vaccine can protect your child from getting infected with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Occasionally, a vaccinated person may get infected with the virus or even get mild symptoms. This is called "breakthrough infection." But the vaccine is very good at preventing serious illness, hospitalization, and death due to COVID-19.

COVID-19 vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective, and are recommended for everyone 6 months of age and older. People need more than one shot to stay protected. Follow your health care provider's recommendations about the timing of vaccine doses and booster shots. 

After vaccination, some kids have side effects for 1 or 2 days, like soreness in the shot area, headache, tiredness, nausea, achiness, or a fever. They can also get swollen glands (lymph nodes) in the armpit or near the collarbone on the side where they got the shot. These are signs that the immune system is responding to the vaccine and building immunity to the virus. Sometimes, the side effects are more intense after additional vaccine doses or after someone has already been sick with COVID-19. These side effects are still not as bad as COVID-19 sometimes can be in children.

• No special care is needed.
• If your child has pain in the shot area or a fever, your health care provider may recommend acetaminophen (such as Tylenol® or a store brand) OR ibuprofen (such as Advil®, Motrin®, or a store brand).
• Do not give aspirin to your child or teen. It is linked to a rare but serious illness called Reye syndrome.
• Place a cool, wet washcloth on the area where the shot was given for 10–15 minutes every few hours. This can help to ease soreness, redness, or swelling.
• Let your child rest if they seem tired, and let them eat or drink as usual.

Your child:

• has a lot of pain, redness, or swelling at the shot site
• has other vaccine side effects that worry you or that do not go away after a few days

Call 911 if your child has signs of a serious allergic reaction. These include a hoarse voice, wheezing, trouble breathing, a bad rash all over the body, a swollen face, looking pale, or feeling very weak or dizzy. If a serious allergic reaction happens, it's usually within 1 hour of getting the vaccine. That's why health care providers ask people to stay for a while after they get their vaccine.

Your child has any of these problems within a week after getting the vaccine:

• chest pain
• trouble breathing
• feeling like their heart is beating too fast, fluttering, or pounding

How does a COVID-19 vaccine help protect my child against COVID-19? The body responds to the vaccine by creating antibodies against the virus, which takes about 2 weeks. Antibodies are special proteins that lock onto germs to keep a person from getting sick. They help protect your child from being infected with the virus. A child who does get infected after vaccination will be much less likely to get very sick or to be hospitalized. The infection may cause no symptoms at all, or only very mild ones.

Can the COVID-19 vaccine give my child COVID-19? No, the vaccines can't give a person COVID-19. They contain a piece of genetic material from the coronavirus, not the whole virus, so they can't give people COVID-19.

Should my child get the COVID-19 vaccine if they've already had COVID-19? Yes, a child can and should get a vaccine even if they have had COVID-19. There are no known risks to getting the vaccine after being infected with coronavirus. We don't know how long a person's immunity lasts after an infection, so it's important to get the vaccine too.

Are COVID-19 vaccines safe for kids? So far, all studies done in kids show that COVID-19 vaccines are very safe. A vaccine goes through intensive testing before people can get it. Millions of kids are fully vaccinated already, with no serious safety concerns identified. Long-term side effects are considered extremely unlikely based on years of studying other vaccines. Studies show that when side effects do happen, it's usually within 6 weeks after vaccination.